You know how sometimes a tidbit of information is a fun conversation piece and other times it can tell you a whole lot about a person based on how they react? Always up for a positive story, I was telling an acquaintance in my local café about actor Johnny Depp recently leaving a $4,000 tip for a waiter in a Chicago steakhouse.

“Well, he can afford it,” my acquaintance said flippantly.

“Lots of people can afford it,” I said. “But that doesn’t mean they do it.”

“I suppose,” my acquaintance said with a shrug.

From this brief exchange, I took away so much. It showed me a lack of appreciation for someone showing appreciation. It reinforced my annoyance at cynicism. And it validated my own decision to make my default disposition as positive and upbeat as possible without forcing it.

Let’s start with the appreciation part of this. With the job market so dismal and so many Americans fearing the pink slip every time they walk through their employers’ doors, isn’t that extra incentive to let someone know they did their job well?

It doesn’t mean Joe Average needs to leave a $4,000 tip. There are other ways to show appreciation for someone’s efforts.  For example, I have become much more vigilant about doing follow-up surveys when I’ve spoken to a customer service representative on the phone. It takes less than a minute and I have to believe if the company has any layoffs down the road, these reviews will be looked at and taken seriously. That’s powerful.

I recently bought my first BlackBerry and was utterly clueless about how to decide on what was the best fit for my needs. Matthew, the employee who helped me at the AT&T (T) store, was extremely informative, infinitely patient and, perhaps most importantly, didn’t lay the hard sell on me. Not only did I make a point of telling his supervisor in the store that I came back to buy the phone specifically because of Matthew’s service, I gave him kudos in a phone survey the company did that week.

Do I want a medal for it? Not at all. But I would love to encourage more people to think this way. Doesn’t it feel great when someone shows their appreciation to you? Pay it forward. You just don’t know the impact it could have.

In the Johnny Depp scenario, he and his fellow cast members from Public Enemies reportedly went to Gibsons Steakhouse at 11:30 p.m., so part of his generosity stemmed from knowing they had kept the staff there later than usual. He also had some history with the waiter and knew he was a consistently good server. It was a generous gesture.

As for my feelings about cynicism, maybe that’s part of why I became a life coach. I like to focus on the positive. Even as we speak, you can Google “positive thinking study” and find conflicting information right at the top of the search results. But for my money, it’s more productive, feels healthier, and makes life more joyful to go with the glass-half-full approach. I just don’t get why more people aren’t aligned with that.

Here’s a case in point. I grabbed an exciting, cost-effective opportunity to visit Italy next month and already I have the naysayers telling me it’s too hot there in August, the Italians will all be on vacation, yada, yada, yada. What’s with the negativity? It makes me wonder what’s beneath the cynicism. I mean, I’m fairly confident the art will not be on vacation and that there will be some fabulous food available in the big boot.

“What’s up with people?” one dear friend said when we discussed this.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I can’t live like that.”

It’s true.

Recently I stopped into Starbucks (SBUX) at 10 p.m. to get a cup of decaf to quell a craving. The young woman at the counter said they don’t brew decaf after noon. It’s company policy. After I grilled her and laughingly told her I’d be Twitter-ing this when I left there, I walked out sipping a satisfying decaf Americano (which is made with espresso instead of coffee). I get such interesting reactions when I tell this story, some insisting that I should have demanded they brew the decaf.

Seriously? I’m going to berate a 20-year-old barista who’s probably trying to put herself through school and is just following company policy?

I have a professional acquaintance who treated me to lunch at a nice restaurant, but she was so condescending to the wait staff that I decided it would be my last with her. I also dated a guy who, in my opinion, showed his true self when he raked a waitress over the coals at brunch. What a turn-off.

I’m not saying we should canonize Johnny Depp, but let’s not shrug off a nice gesture either. Showing appreciation is one of the most basic things we can do for each other.

That’s today’s tip.

Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.